The Cherry Wars
by whitetiger91
Summary: *Warning: Does not feature any characters you are familiar with, just implied for their children. Also contains some minor swearing.* Claudia is the best cherry sorter in the business. With only several weeks' experience under her belt, she had managed to fill more 'seconds' buckets than anyone else. Until the new girl came.
1. Chapter 1

**The Cherry Wars**

 _ **A/N: So, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to post this on FanFiction or FictionPress. Technically, this was supposed to be an original short story and it started off that way based on my recent summer job. However, I not long read and watched Hating Alison Ashley (written by Robin Klein: the book was my absolute favourite in Year 6 and still is one of my favourite novels), and I can't help but see the strong connections between the two: the protagonist thinking she's all that, a new girl coming in and getting treated better, a boy preferring someone else, etc. Thus, I played with a few themes and ended up implying that the new girl is the niece of Barry Hollis, and both girls are related to Alison and Erica. I'm afraid no other familiar characters apart from Barry are mentioned by name, at least not in the four chapters currently being published. Perhaps I will make the connection clearer, however, I did not want to publish as an original for fear of unintentionally breaching any Copyright or plagiarism rules/ laws.**_

 _ **I apologise profusely, too, for the appalling story-telling and grammar. I wrote this in a hurry for a competition so that my team wouldn't lose out on points for not submitting. It will be edited at a later date, but I understand if you cringe when reading. Sorry!**_

 ** _Before you torture yourself with this, I must also point out that all characters are fictional and not based on anyone that worked with me. Whilst there was an Italian backpacker, she was such a lovely, intelligent person and neither ate all the cherries or made up nonsensical metaphors (they were prompts for the competition, as were the funny bits of dialogue, sudden pairings and slang used). No one got bitten by a snake (as far as I am aware), there were no hippies falling in love, and any new people who came in the middle of the season were fantastic to work with :D_**

* * *

 **Chapter One: The Best in the Business**

There was nothing better than the smell of cherries. Nothing could beat their sweet, tantalising scent, teasing people to bite into their red flesh, and as the first lot of cherries came up onto the conveyor belt, rising like an avalanche of fruit, Claudia smiled.

The blonde pulled on her gloves, taking pleasure in the sound of the latex snapping when she pulled the fingertips into place. She had already jumped on her stool and made herself comfortable. Like always, it was the middle stool, right next to the manager's so Emily could see how well she did—not that she didn't already know, of course. Now, she was waiting for the other slowpokes to get ready.

Jared, the twenty-one-year-old with the unwashed feet and questionable hygiene, was spinning around in his chair. From the loud chuckles he emitted, it seemed as if it had taken him three weeks to realise that his chair could do that. His dreadlocks flicked back and forth on his back, spurring on his amusement.

Jared was at least a little more prepared for the day's work than Claudia's other comrades. Josie, a mousy-haired teenager fresh out of high school, was fiddling with her iPod. She was taking great pleasure in searching for a song, her freshly-manicured nails tapping against the device's screen. Claudia had half a mind to remind her that nails should be filed back so the cherries weren't marked, but she was sure Josie would only go on and on about her nail artist like the last time she was spoken to about it. It was bad enough that Leah, the Italian backpacker sitting next to Josie, was currently examining her own nails, chipping off the vibrant blue polish with her thumbnail to make them look more 'edgy'. Claudia scrunched up her nose and made a mental note to wipe down the area in the first break.

At least the two other backpackers, Lee and Tiffany, already had their gloves on. By the time the cherries made their way down the belt to them, hopefully, they would stop arguing about who would sit on which stool. It wasn't like it particularly mattered anyway; Claudia was the best at making sure none of the seconds got past her. Cherry with a nasty, brown dry crack? In the bucket. A little white scratch on the surface? In the bucket. Green and white furry? Bin. Definitely in the bin.

"Are we all set?" Emily called down the belt, fiddling with a few buttons on the machine. The girl didn't bother to check if anyone really was ready and began to flip over the cherries.

Resisting the temptation to reach across the conveyor belt and clip Josie over the ear, Claudia instead reached towards the beginning of the conveyor belt and began to pluck out the poor-quality cherries. Given the fact that the cherry pickers themselves were pretty incompetent—nine times out of ten, the pickers would slip leaves, sticks and sometimes rocks into their buckets to weigh them down a little more—it was no surprise that many of the cherries were seconds or thirds. Picking up one, Claudia grimaced when her thumb went through the flesh and into the centre, red and orange juice oozing out over her glove. The cherry had appeared alright on the surface, but it was the very fine wet split she hadn't noticed that fooled her. Wiping her glove on her jeans, she hoped that Emily hadn't seen her _faux pas_ and dropped it into the bin compartment. After all, Claudia was the best—and only one—able to find the wet splits in the group; it wouldn't do to miss one now.

Taking a deep breath, Claudia concentrated on the task at hand and started picking out the seconds. Part of her was secretly glad there were so many, for the more she found, the quicker her green second's bucket filled up. Each second she found she would toss into the bucket, always getting it in without having to look, another skill she had perfected. The cherries would make a satisfying ' _plop'_ sound every time they hit the bucket, often occurring more frequently than in anyone else's bucket.

To an outsider, filling a bucket would not appear that great an achievement. However, as Claudia very well knew, filling a bucket meant that she had picked out cherries that weren't good enough for public consumption—at least not the public rich enough to afford first-rate cherries. The more she took out, the fewer bad cherries made into the packing boxes, and the less the owners had to worry about hearing complaints from the shops purchasing them. The more bucket she filled, the more the owners would know she was competent enough to do her job, as well as anyone else's sitting up on the tiny wooden platform.

With a smirk, Claudia lifted her first filled bucket up off the metal holder it had been perched on. She placed it onto the platform floor with a little more force than necessary, a few cherries falling over the rim. Then, picking up an empty bucket, easily slipping it out of the pile, she made a little extra noise fixing it back in on the metal holder.

As she had hoped, Sean, one of the packers working below, walked up to the platform and picked up the bucket. Claudia smiled at him when he did, pleased that it was he, and not one of the other packers taking it. She knew he had a small crush on her, had so ever since she started the job, recognising that she was, dare she say it, the best sorter out of the lot of them. Sean gave a half smile before walking off with it and placing it in the pallet.

Claudia turned back to her work, but not before she sneakily taking a peek at the other's seconds buckets. She noted that she was the only one to have filled up a bucket within the half hour since they had started. Josie's bucket, made a little see-through by the bright sunlight streaming in through the shed window, wasn't even halfway filled. She was too busy juggling trying to take out her iPod from her pocket and select a new song without Emily noticing, and yapping away at Jared.

"So, do you like, ever ride in a car?" Josie said.

Claudia wanted to roll her eyes and turned back to the cherries in front of her. If Josie would bother to turn up to work when she was supposed to, and not at 8:00 am on the dot when they really should've been up on the platform, then she would know that Jared's mother always drove him to work. The boy might've tried to pull off the eco-friendly vibe, but there was no mistaking his arrival in a car when his mother would yell out the window, "And next time, don't use a sock!" before speeding away in a cloud of dust.

Still, she couldn't help but listen in to the conversation, already sick of the 'new age' music played on repeat on the radio.

"Wow, so like, you must live far away then?" Josie was saying.

"Yeah, all the way from Huon," Jared said.

This time, Claudia did roll her eyes. She had only been living in Tasmania for just over two years, yet every Tasmanian she ever met didn't seem to understand the concept of distance. For them, simply travelling twenty kilometres to visit a friend was a huge deal. From where Claudia lived in New South Wales, twenty kilometres barely got anyone to the nearest shop. Chester's Cherries was no more than ten or fifteen minutes from Huon and the distance was certainly nothing to be impressed by.

"What Huon?" Lee said, evidently finding the conversation more interesting than it was.

Tiffany quickly chimed in. "He was asking what Huon is," she said loudly, and as Claudia looked up at her, she could see Tiffany miming the words to Lee.

"A town," Jared said to Lee, but Tiffany translated anyway.

"Town! _Zhèn_."

Claudia could see Lee's eyes clouded with confusion, and rather than replying, he simply grinned at Jared and nodded.

"I like towns, they're like… um, big houses, where everyone can be friends," Leah said, joining the conversation as she popped another cherry in her mouth.

First checking to see that Emily was too busy sorting the cherries to see her, Claudia ducked her head under the conveyor belt and looked at where Leah was sitting. Just as she had expected, the area surrounding Leah's feet was covered with dozens of cherry pits and stems. The girl usually spent more time eating seconds instead of placing them in her bucket, and it was no wonder that, as she sat back up, she could see that Leah's bucket was only half full. Claudia could only hope that the girl was now used to them and no longer had to run to the toilet every fifteen minutes like she had the first few days.

It was possibly more annoying than the way Leah always tried—and failed—to come up with similes and metaphors for everything she saw in her quest to fully master the English language.

Sighing, Claudia turned back to the cherries. It seemed that she would have to work extra hard today to make sure no seconds or thirds went through. She tuned out the mundane and rather idiotic conversation, and for the next two hours, focused on filling up bucket after bucket.

It was going rather well, too. Not only had she managed to beat her previous record of filling five buckets in one session, causing Emily to raise her eyebrow, out of respect no doubt, she had also managed to stop a number of cherries from falling in between the two layers of the conveyor belt. She had prevented what could only have resulted in a breakage of the machine, and she sat up swelling with pride.

"What song are you listening to?" Jared's voice cut into her thoughts, and Claudia looked up.

He had finally managed to fill one bucket, yet it was still left teetering on the metal holder. His hands were throwing cherries on top of the pile, but the cherries would bounce off the small mound and fall to the platform below. His blue eyes were instead focused on Josie, who was now nodding along to some pop song that was blasting out from her earphones.

"A bit of Justin," Josie said, louder than necessary. "He's like, good to listen to when I'm doing aromatherapy classes."

"Cool dude," Jared said.

The boy, still oblivious to the cherries falling to the floor, reached across the conveyor belt for a particularly nasty looking cherry. The surface of one side was orange, white puss bulging from underneath it. Claudia kicked herself for not having seen it first, but seeing as it was a third and not a second, didn't mind that Jared spotted it.

At the same time, Josie also saw the fungal cherry, her hand darting out towards it. It brushed against Jared's, and the girl looked up at the same time as he did.

It felt like ten minutes rather than ten seconds that Jared and Josie sat there, staring into each other's eyes. Neither blinked, and if Claudia hadn't known any better, she would have assumed they were statues put there by the bosses to make it look like they employed more workers.

"Heh, sorry," Jared eventually said, pulling back his hand.

A goofy smile was plastered across his face, causing Josie to giggle as she placed her hands in her lap. "It's ok," she said, her cheeks turning red.

Claudia looked from one to the other, dumbfounded. What was happening? Was the machine leaking fuel again, causing the two to act weirder than usual?

Cherries slid past the two, yet neither appeared to notice as they went back to staring into each other's eyes. Josie winked at Jared, taking one earphone out. Leaning across the conveyor belt, she stretched the white cord further than it should have gone and passed it to Jared. The boy flicked a dreadlock out of his ear and put the earphone in, smiling as he listened to the music.

"Hey, I know this tune!" he said, nodding along.

Claudia tentatively sniffed the air, trying to see if perhaps there was a gas leak somewhere. She couldn't smell anything out of the ordinary, save for the diesel of the forklift bringing in more pallets of cherries and the smell of Jared's sweat. Still, it couldn't hurt to be too cautious.

"Claudia… Claudia!"

Blinking, Claudia turned her attention back to the cherries in front of her. Emily was flapping her hands around, trying to gather up the rotten cherries and simultaneously pull cherries from blocking up the machine. Whilst Claudia had been busy trying to figure out what was going on between Jared and Josie, she had missed the pile of cherries coming her way. She hastily started rolling cherries over, taking out as many seconds and rotten cherries as she could.

Sometimes Trevor, the boy in charge of putting the cherries in the cold water before they were sent up the conveyor belt, would get distracted and put in an entire bucket at once, causing a mountain of cherries to come through. With one eye on the cherries and another on the shed floor below, Claudia could see Trevor fist-bumping Sean, an empty bucket lying sideways in the tub.

Shaking her head, Claudia focused back on her job. The people here would never cease to amaze her.

* * *

Finally, after ten hours and almost fourteen full seconds buckets, the work day was over.

Claudia hummed as she swept up the rotten cherries, pushing them towards the drains. She had already wiped all the benches and most of the conveyor belts without Emily having asked. Emily hadn't yet said thank you, but Claudia knew it was only because the brunette was too busy trying to pry Josie and Jared apart.

The pair had been locked at the lips for the last ten minutes, for-going any tidying up they had to do. Claudia hadn't minded taking on the pair's duties—after all, she would have done a much better job than they could have done together—but Emily insisted they do it themselves.

"Aww, they look like they're having fun. They're like a pair of, um, a pair of those dogs rubbing their noses together over a plate of spaghetti," Leah said, sidling up to her.

Claudia scrunched up her nose. Emily had given up, shrugging her shoulders and stalking off to reprimand Trevor for using the hose to spray Sean and another packer, Caleb. Jared had just picked out an insect that had become tangled in Josie's hair, and the two were now staring into each other's eyes again.

Turning to Leah, Claudia snorted. "They look more more like a pair of zombies trying to eat each other's faces."

Leah scratched her head. "Zombies? It might be fun to be a zombie. But if I die, just know that I'm coming back to eat your brain. Or maybe I'd eat Jared's."

"You're going to be one disappointed zombie, then," she replied.

If she had just met Leah, she would have considered emitting her to a special ward, given the things she came out with sometimes. Now, however, all she could do was remember that there was only one more week to go, and she wouldn't have to put up with these people any longer.

Directing Leah towards a pile of cherry pits not yet swept up, Claudia turned off towards Lee and Tiffany. Emily was still busy telling off the boys, and thus it seemed it was up to Claudia to sort everyone else out.

She promptly ignored the sound of metal falling into the drain coming from where Leah was, as well as her cry of "Oops! I hope that wasn't important." It probably was important, perhaps a screw to the machine, but she didn't have time to deal with any more of Leah's accidents.

"Broccoli has a higher IQ than her," Claudia muttered under her breath, before calling in a louder voice, "Lee over here."

Holding up a bucket of soapy water, Lee came trotting over. " _Shi_?"

"I want you to wipe down this table," she said, mouthing the words and miming the actions.

Lee nodded, taking out his cloth and wiping down the surface. Tiffany came trotting over, and having heard Claudia's instructions, began to translate to him what to do.

Claudia tapped her foot impatiently, but before she could tell the girl to leave and find something else to do, Emily called out, "Alright, time to knock off. See you lot tomorrow." Sighing, Claudia shrugged her shoulders and put her broom away.

At least she had tried, and at the end of the day, it was still a good job, and people knew she was proficient. Just the way she liked it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two: The New Girl**

Getting up early was never Claudia's forte. She was sure that the bags under her eyes had doubled in size within the last minute, and her half-done hair certainly wouldn't pass as 'messy-chic.' Nevertheless, when Chester hobbled past and said "Good morning," she made sure to plaster a large smile on her face and appear awake.

Walking into the shed, she saw a girl talking with the head manager and co-owner, Barry. Her back was to Claudia, but from her long, bayalage hair running down her back and clean sneakers, she could tell that the girl was new. She was probably a new cherry picker come to fill in for one of the back-packers, and with that in mind, Claudia walked into the staffroom.

"Good morning," Lee said, a cup of coffee in his hand and a wide grin on his tanned face.

Claudia gave him a half wave, ignoring Tiffany who patted Lee on the back, praising him for his use of English.

She began to get ready, taking as much time as she needed. There were only a few minutes before she had to be up on the platform ready to work, yet, even so, she'd be more ready than anyone else. Taking out her sandwich, she placed it into the small bar fridge. She had to move a few containers of frozen pasta packed with carbs out of the way, but it wasn't long before she managed to put her sandwich in the prime position, where it wouldn't get too cold, but wouldn't go soggy, either. Then, taking her milk bottle out of her bag, she placed it in the door of the fridge. The bosses had provided milk, of course, but Claudia had never been a fan of the so-called 'lite milk' that tasted like nothing more than watered-down milk and preferred bringing her own.

Pulling on her gloves, she pushed open the door and walked out to the platform. Lee was still in the staffroom, Tiffany yelling at him over something new. She smiled at Sean as she walked past and picked up a few empty buckets to take up with her. Emily usually told them to only take up three at a time, but Claudia knew she would need more, and took up twelve just to be safe.

Walking up the steps to the platform, she almost regretted taking up as many. Claudia dropped the buckets, surprised to see the new picker sitting on one of the stools, or more specifically, the stool opposite Emily. No one was supposed to sit on that stool. No one. The stool directly opposite Emily was always reserved, left to gather up spider webs and dust. From the very first day, Emily had insisted their group spread out down the platform, where Claudia knew, the most competent people were closest to the start of the line.

So what right did this girl have to take that seat?

Claudia gave her a wary look as she bent down and set the buckets upright. She prised one out slowly, watching Emily beside her. Her mini-boss didn't seem to care that his new girl was sitting on the stool, too busy focused on putting on her own gloves.

"Um, hi," Claudia said, deciding to take matters into her own hands.

Perhaps she could point out to the girl the rules of the platform, subtly indicate that she should use one of the stools further down the track. Claudia was sure the girl had a few more brains than her fellow 'workers', but starting at the end would give her a bit more experience.

The girl barely glanced up, a small smile on her painted lips. Claudia's heart dropped when she saw that the girl's makeup was perfectly done—in fact, she wouldn't have been surprised if the girl did makeup tutorials online with thousands of followers. Her cheekbones were higher, her nose smaller, her eyes wider, than Claudia could ever hope to achieve on her own features. It wasn't that she was jealous, necessarily—Claudia rarely had anything to be jealous of—but more that, until that moment, she had been the prettiest one there. It had been a small comfort, particularly when Sean paid attention to her, rather than Leah, Emily, Tiffany or Josie.

Emily looked up then and said, "Oh, sorry Claudia, this is Simone. Simone is Barry's niece, and will be working with us for the last week or so."

Niece? Simone was the boss' niece?

"Simone like the type of cherries?" Claudia asked, sticking out her hand for Simone to shake.

Simone held up her hands, indicating that she hadn't yet put on her own gloves. The girl didn't laugh at her joke, either, but Claudia simply shrugged, assuming she hadn't been around cherries enough to understand it.

"I think everyone is like cherries," Leah said, walking up the staircase with a single seconds bucket in her hand. "I mean, we're all made of flesh, and some of us can be sweet."

Claudia sat down, not bothering to comment on that analogy. Simone finished putting on her gloves and did the same, her posture perfect.

Emily pressed the button, starting up the machine, and turned to Simone. "Ok, so, we'll take it slow to begin with. Now, with that green bucket you have, you'll need to put in the cherries that have—"

"—like this one?"

Claudia looked up to see that Simone was holding a cherry with a small, brown line across its surface. It was, indeed, a second.

"Yes, good work," Emily said.

"And, this is a third, right?" Simone asked, holding up a cherry. It looked perfect from what Claudia could see, but then the girl pointed to a tiny, hairline-thin split. "It has a wet-split."

"So it is! Good spot! I don't anyone has picked them out so quickly!" Emily gushed, beaming at Simone. "How did you know?"

"Oh, it was nothing really, my father made me learn all the different things about fruit growing up, so I suppose this bit of information just stuck."

Well. Claudia straightened her back and turned to the pile of cherries travelling past her. Emily had never praised her so much when Claudia had picked out wet splits, and she had found hundreds in the past few weeks. Emily was probably only doing it because Simone was the boss' niece, but even so, there was no need to carry on.

The rest of the session went similarly, with Simone showing off all that she supposedly knew, and Emily bestowing unnecessary praise upon her. Lee and Tiffany spent most of the time arguing about how a single cherry and whether it belonged in the bin or the seconds bucket, whilst Jared and Josie sat side by side, holding hands under the conveyor belt. A line of cherries that resembled hearts were placed on the edge of the conveyor belt between them, collected by Jared for Josie as tokens of his love.

Claudia was sure that Jared hadn't even noticed that they had a new co-worker, and sure enough, when Emily called time for a lunch break, he peered over at Simone and asked, "Woah… how'd you get here?"

Still, at least Claudia had managed to fill up just under seven seconds buckets. Lifting off the bucket from the metal holder, she proudly put it down on the platform ready for collection.

"Wow, that must be your ninth bucket this morning," Emily said.

Claudia turned to her and smiled as modestly as she could manage. "Oh, no it was only—"

"Tenth, actually," Simone said, putting down a full bucket of her own.

Claudia's head snapped up, realising too late that Emily was once again referring to Simone. The girl stood up, daintily placing her gloves upon her stool and then climbing down the ladder on her side of the platform. The girl smiled at Trevor, who hurried over to collect her bucket. Emily followed suit, walking down the stairs without so much as a glance at Claudia's own seconds buckets lined up.

Gritting her teeth, Claudia stalked down the stairs. Unlike most days when she would stay back to help Tiffany and Lee sort the cherries going past them, she headed off straight to the staffroom before Simone could take the best chair in there.

Pushing open the door, she realised that it wouldn't have mattered if she did, anyway. Simone was already surrounded by several colleagues. Emily was sitting on her left, Trevor on her right, and a few pickers who should've been back in the orchard by now standing in front of her.

"How are you finding Tasmania?"

"It must be a big change of pace from Melbourne."

"What's Melbourne like? I've always wanted to go there. Could you recommend some places to visit for me?"

Claudia gave a little cough, but no one seemed to notice she had entered the room—not that they did anyway. She had made sure to tell people she had not long moved to Tasmania when she first started, yet not once did anyone ask her about what living in Sydney was like or what tourist attractions they should visit. They hadn't even wanted to see the cute pictures she had taken of the possums, pademelons and wallabies that came to visit her.

Here they were, however, fawning over Simone.

Stomping over to the fridge, her annoyance only increasing when the small crowd ignored her requests to "excuse her" and she had to push her way through, she took out her sandwich. The taste of curried egg and mayonnaise usually made things better, and when she bit into it, she did feel a little happier.

"Simone, where should I go first?" Leah said as soon as she walked in the door.

Claudia swallowed a mouthful of egg and wrapped her sandwich back up in its plastic wrap. She no longer felt like eating. No one noticed, their questions and comments endless.

Putting the half-eaten sandwich in her bag, she sidled up to Simone. If she couldn't fight them, then she would join them.

"So Simone, how are you finding the work? Are your arms hurting? Mine are killing me," Claudia said.

Simone took a large from the sushi she had brought in. Chewing with her lips closed—which was more than could be said of many of the workers—she swallowed before finally answering. "Actually, I find it good exercise. My arms might ache, but at least they won't be flabby." She said this without looking at anyone in particular, turning back to her sushi.

Claudia crossed her arms, suddenly aware that the t-shirt she wore wasn't so upper-arm friendly. When Sean and Caleb walked in, laughing about something that had happened only they could find funny, Claudia covered her arms with her hands. Thankfully, there were only a few minutes until the break was over.

"Time to get back to it, I suppose," Emily said, stretching out her legs. She glanced at the clock wistfully, more likely than not wishing there was another hour of breaks, before she got up and left the room. "I'll see you all in two minutes."

Simone, having popped her box away on a table, stood up and followed Emily out. Claudia scoffed at such a blatant act of sucking-up and took her time getting up herself.

She wished she hadn't, however, when she heard Sean say, "Damn, that new chick is hot."

Caleb clapped him on the back and fist-bumped him, as though it had been some statement about how to stop famine or cure a deadly disease.

"As if!" Claudia stormed out of the room and up to the platform. Emily and Simone were already on their stools, ready to start the next session. She grabbed extra buckets and stomped up the stairs, plonking them down with more force than necessary.

Simone frowned as though it had offended her somehow, and flipped her hair back. Turning back to Emily, she said, "As I was saying, I had a good chat with my uncle. I know it's not a competition, but since so many seconds and thirds are slipping through into the boxes, he suggested an incentive. Whoever fills up the most seconds buckets this week will get a special surprise from him."

It took all of her energy not to lift her head up and gawk at Simone or pretend that she was interested. The sneaky little witch probably wouldn't have told anyone about her uncle's incentive, using her position at the front of the conveyor belt to her advantage to collect all the seconds first.

Well, if the new girl wanted a competition, then a competition she would get.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Sabotage**

Out of every day Claudia had worked with the cherries so far, she had never been more exhausted. Her forearms felt like they were burning whilst her fingers felt like icicles from the cold water. Even so, she would not slow down, picking out as many seconds as she could. Sometimes, a third would find its way into her bucket, but she wasn't too worried. Barry would be unlikely to check through every single cherry in the seconds buckets to make sure no one was cheating to fill them up. There was really only one or two in there. Even if he did, she could easily blame Simone and say that his precious niece must have thrown it in there.

There were only two days of work left, and she was neck and neck with Simone in seconds buckets filled up. Simone had filled forty-nine, and Claudia forty-seven. She was almost finished with her forty-eighth bucket, however, and knew that had she been on the first stool Simone seemed to be able to claim without question, she would've have surpassed Simone's total.

It would have been much easier to do so, too, if Simone stopped trying to sabotage Claudia.

"Oops, I'm so sorry!" Simone said.

Claudia wiped cherry juice off her cheek, continuing to use one hand to sort through the cherries. Simone had just squeezed a rotten cherry hard enough so that the juice sprayed onto Claudia's face, most likely in an attempt to distract her from what she was doing. It wasn't the first time the girl had squeezed an obviously rotten cherry and aimed it in her direction, yet Simone managed to look innocent as she placed the offending cherry into the bin section.

"No problem," Claudia said, smiling as sweetly as she could manage. Leaning across, she scooped up a pile of cherries, many with dry cracks, before Simone could touch them. "Let me check these for you, in case there are any more thirds."

Simone shrugged, but from the set of her jaw, Claudia knew that she had hit a nerve.

It became even more clear when, a few more minutes into the session, a rotten cherry found its way into her seconds bucket. The cherry was the most disgusting thing Claudia had ever seen. It had long passed the stage of growing green fur, and now resembled a pimple desperately in need of popping. She knew she wouldn't have bother putting it in her seconds bucket—it was so disgusting that even Jared, in all his denseness, would have spotted it and thrown it away. Looking over at Simone, Claudia could see the ghost of a smile on the girl's lips.

Emily, as seemed to be the case all week, was too busy focusing on her work to have noticed the fungal-missile landing in Claudia's bucket. Claudia contemplated returning the favour by throwing a nasty-looking cherry, a spider web filling in the deep hole inside it, into Simone's bucket. Emily looked up at that moment, however, and she decided to wait until the right time to get her revenge.

* * *

For someone who prided themselves on being punctual, Simone sure was taking a long time to leave for lunch. It was as though the girl knew something was going to happen, and she was wavering around the platform on purpose. Still, Claudia took her own time, making sure to help Lee and Tiffany sort out the cherries going past them.

When the last of the cherries fell down into the packing shoot, Claudia shooed Leah away and watched in satisfaction when the Italian linked arms with Simone and dragged her off to lunch. Finally.

Claudia knew she had to move quick. She hurried down the stairs, around the cold water bath, and up the ladder on the other side of the platform, making her way to Simone's station. She looked around to make sure no one else was there—the packing boys were too busy having a competition who could make up the most boxes, laughing like they were twelve years old—before pulling out a few rotten cherries from her tracksuit pocket. She had had to pretend she was eating the cherries that didn't make it into either her seconds bucket or bin whenever someone looked her way. It would've been particularly odd to anyone, for Claudia much preferred to eat the better quality fruit. Thankfully, Jared and Josie were too busy blowing kisses at each other and Leah continually had to run to the bathroom to notice her.

Leaning over Simone's seconds bucket, she scooped a few cherries to the side. Then, placing the rotten cherries from her pocket—about thirty of them—into the bucket, she buried them under the good ones. When Simone got back, she would be unlikely to discover that her bucket held some rotten cherries. When Barry checked it, however, he would see that his niece had tried to get ahead on buckets filled.

With that, Took her gloves off, snapping the rubber as though she was blowing on a smoking gun. Mission accomplished.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Heroes and Smoke**

Claudia used her best manners that lunch. When Simone was going on and on about her university, and how she was only working with the cherries for the experience, Claudia sat and listened. She even gushed about how lucky the girl was to be going back to Melbourne soon and enjoying their sunny weather, to which Simone raised a thin eyebrow in response.

She didn't even comment when Jared and Emily left the staffroom early, holding hands and giggling. Claudia had a feeling that they were heading towards the back room where some of the packers would sneak in illegal smoke breaks.

When Simone and Emily got up to leave for the next session ten minutes later, Claudia followed her out, not wanting to miss Simone's reaction in case Barry or Chester had already checked the seconds buckets.

"So it looks like we'll only have another day? It's gone very quickly," Simone said, directing her words to Emily and completely ignoring Simone.

"Yeah, looks like it," Emily said. "Usually we'd have had another week, but all the rain has left many of the cherries split."

"Oh yeah—" Claudia was about to speak up and say that she knew they were behind because of the cherries when Jared's voice cut through.

"Josie! Josie, look out!"

Looking up, Claudia saw Jared waving his arms around, eyes wide. Josie was walking away, her eyes narrowed, but when she heard Jared, she spun around.

"I'm not interested in—"

"Snake!" Jared's mouth open and closed, his fingers pointing at something near Josie's feet.

Claudia wasn't sure who shrieked the loudest: Simone, who had ran up the platform steps to get away, Josie, who had frozen and now sounded like a banshee, or Jared, who continued pointing and shouting, "Snake! Snake!"

"Is it safe? I mean, is it poisonous?" Simone said from on top of the platform.

Claudia rolled her eyes, happy that for once, Simone didn't know absolutely everything.

"Of course it's safe. I mean, no one's died yet, have they?" Claudia said, even though she knew there were only two types of snakes in Tasmania, both extremely poisonous. When she noticed that Simone relaxed a little, she added, "Well, except that one person."

Simone shrieked and clung to the platform railing. Her knuckles turned white, causing Claudia to chuckle a little.

She stopped, however, when Josie herself shrieked, and the severity of the situation came back to her.

Claudia froze on the spot. She had learnt in primary school that the best action when coming across a snake was to remain as still and quiet as possible until it slithered away. Running away usually provoked them, even though it was what most people did.

The big, fat tiger snake just a metre from Josie's feet, however, didn't seem to be moving away anytime soon. It reared its head as the girl tried to use her earphones like a whip to swat it away, her skin turning paler by the minute.

Emily had run back to the staffroom to get help, yet it seemed she wasn't quite fast enough for Jared. Recovering from his shock, Jared grabbed a nearby broom and sprinted towards Josie.

"Don't touch it!" Claudia said.

Jared ignored her, and using the broom like a javelin, he tried spearing the snake. The snake slithered out of the way, and with a hiss, launched itself at Jared's leg. It was almost in slow motion, the way it opened its mouth and its fangs dug into his leg, just above his ankle. Jared, of course, had forgotten to wear the appropriate footwear Barry and Chester required of them, and thus the snake managed to get through the material of his tracksuit pants.

"Ouch!" Jared yelled, followed by a few more expletives.

Clutching his ankle with both hands, he fell to the floor and writhed about. Sean, Trevor and a picker came running out, trailed behind by a ghost-white Emily, but the snake had already begun to make its way towards the shed's back door. The boys chased after it, but Claudia focused instead on Emily as she leant down next to Jared.

"Jared, Jared, did it bite you?" Emily asked. With wide eyes, she turned to everyone gathered around, "Did it bite him?"

Jared was wailing like a baby, moaning about how he was dying. It was quite possible that he was, but there was no need for the carry-on. Josie was now leaning over Jared, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Don't die, please don't die!" she said, which only spurred on Jared's wails more.

Emily at least had enough sense to make a tourniquet for Jared, wrapping her jacket around his ankle as tightly as she could. "Sit still," she said, then to Leah, who had just stumbled in, "Has Barry called the ambulance yet?"

Leah nodded, and for once, she had the sense to stop spurting any useless metaphors out.

Chester and Barry soon came out, as did the sound of ambulance sirens. The paramedics were quick to come to Jared's aid, ordering everyone out of their way and, after assessing the situation, lifted the boy onto the stretcher.

Emily and Simone—who had finally come down from the platform, pretending she had not been scared—informed the paramedics what happened. One of the paramedics then began to reprimand Jared for trying to play a hero as they carried him out towards the ambulance.

"Didn't I tell you not to touch anything?" Claudia said.

It was important for her to let the paramedics know that not everyone in the building was a complete idiot. It was a wasted effort, however, for they simply walked past without comment.

Jared, on the other hand, managed to get a few more words in between his moaning about the unfairness of life. "Yeah, but you didn't say please."

"I'm going with them, but we still need to finish up here. Claudia, Simone, will you be right to lead? Trevor will keep going with the bath when he gets in," Emily said.

Claudia went to protest and tell her that she could handle it on her own, but Emily was already out the door and the sirens of the ambulance could be heard once more.

Josie was still on the floor, hugging her knees and rocking back and forth. Leah put a hand on her shoulder, rubbing circles on her back.

"You know, snake bites are like nature… nature kissing you. You should be proud of Jared," she was saying.

"Really?" Josie said with a hiccough.

Claudia rolled her eyes. Clapping her hands together, she said, "Alright, up you get. Jared will be fine; it was just a baby snake. Anyways, up you get. Jared would want us to carry on and finish this."

Josie burst into fresh tears at the mention of Jared's name. Turning to Simone, Claudia said, "Well, are you going to let the workers act like this? It's not very boss-like."

Simone huffed. "And you think you're a boss?"

"I've been here longer than you, so yeah, I think I am the best to be a boss."

"Whatever," Simone said. In a loud voice and snapping her fingers at the girls, she said, "I'm turning on the machine. You have thirty seconds to get your gloves on and be up on the platform ready to start. Otherwise, I'll get the boys to chase that snake back in here."

Leah gasped and started helping Josie to her feet. Lee and Tiffany had finally walked in, having had their lunch outside and missed everything. Unaware that there was any drama occurring, they skipped off to work, arguing over whether or not they had just seen an echidna.

Claudia stormed up the platform steps. Sitting down on Emily's stool, she glared at Simone. "Well, aren't you going to start it?"

"You could have yourself." Simone rolled her eyes and pressed the button on the machine next to her. Everyone took their seats, including Josie, who was still sobbing.

Claudia reached across and pulled the first lot of cherries towards her. Finding three seconds straight away, she plonked them into her bucket and smiled at Simone.

The new girl was frowning into her bucket, not bothering to collect any cherries. She began to move them around and her frown deepened. Pulling out a cherry that looked like it had been bitten into, she glared up at her.

"Oh, real mature, Claudia," she said.

"Whatever do you mean?" Claudia tried to school her face into a neutral expression, but it was hard not to laugh. In her defence, the way Simone's mouth was screwed up looked like she had just eaten the rotten cherries rather than found them.

"This." Simone stood up and, sticking her tongue out for concentration, threw the cherry into Claudia's bucket.

"Oh, now that was mature," Claudia replied, fishing it out. To show how mature she was, she put it into the bin.

Simone muttered something under her breath and focused back on her work. There was a few minutes of peace, save for the occasional remark at Trevor, who seemed to find it amusing to dump entire buckets of cherries into the bath at once.

Then, without warning, Claudia was splattered with cherry juice. It didn't get into her eyes this time, only her face. Nevertheless, it meant that Claudia had to wipe the juice off before it stained her cheeks dark red, and thus she would be rubbing off the foundation she had oh-so-carefully applied that morning.

"Oops, sorry," Simone said with a smile.

Picking up a cherry, Claudia threw it at the girl. "Oops, sorry," she echoed.

Simone threw the cherry back. "What is your problem?"

"What's yours? You've been nothing but a stuck up snob ever since you got here. Just because your uncle owns the place, doesn't mean you do!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Claudia could see that Leah and Tiffany had stopped their work to listen in to the conversation. They looked away when she glared at them, but their hands did not pick up any cherries going past.

"I never said I did own the place. You're the one who is stuck up! You think you know everything about the cherries. I swear your head grew twice its size when Emily put you in charge," Simone said.

"It did not!" Nothing else would come out, so she picked up another cherry and threw it. It bounced off the conveyor belt and fell to the floor below.

"Stop wasting good cherries!" Simone said, even though she threw a cherry back.

From that point, the war was on. Cherries and insults alike were thrown back and forth, some larger than others. Leah was trying to get them to stop, shouting something like "Look out!" but neither girl paid her any mind.

"Such a suck up. All you do is boast about how good you are."

"Whiny little bitch."

"Get a life!"

Claudia's chest was heaving up and down, her face hot. She couldn't believe the nerve of this girl. She really was starting to hope that the snake had bitten her instead of Jared, just so she could get some peace and quiet, when Leah's voice broke over their own. She no longer cared about gathering up any seconds, instead finding rotten ones to use as ammunition.

"Look out! The cherries!"

Claudia glared at the Italian for interrupting. Seeing that she was pointing to the machine, her face pale, Claudia switched her attention to the belt. Black smoke was furling up into the air, a strange whirring noise coming from the control box. Scanning over it, she realised too late that as they had been arguing, neither she nor Simone had watched what the cherries were doing. Trevor had put too many into the tub, and now a pile of cherries had managed to get stuck between two layers of the belt.

Claudia jumped up, intent on pulling them out, whilst Simone pulled the emergency switch to stop it. Digging her fingers between the machine, she realised she would only be able to pull out half the cherries squashed in it.

"Great, now look what you've done. Are you happy?" she said.

"Me? You were the one not paying attention," Simone said. She didn't appear as annoyed as she did worried. "Uncle Barry is going to kill us."

A wail came from the other end of the conveyor belt at that. Turning to look where it came from, Claudia saw Josie burying her face into her hands. "My boyfriend's dead and now I'm going to get fired!"

Leah scooted over and resumed rubbing circles along her back, not too concerned about the situation. Tiffany, as diligent as she was, was taking the opportunity of the machine's pause to go through the cherries in front of her, picking out any bad ones she had missed.

"Ok, ok, let's not panic," Claudia said, even though her heart was beating a mile a minute.

She looked at the machine, trying to see if there was a way to get it running. It had at least ceased smoking.

"Maybe we could get the boys to help? They're supposed to know these things aren't they?" Claudia asked, not caring in the least if she sounded a little sexist. The fact was, the boys were given training on operating and maintaining the conveyor belt.

Simone shrugged. "We could try."

"Sean! Caleb! Get up here," Claudia shouted towards the boys.

Neither of them looked up. They were too busy talking to each other, waving their hands around as they reenacted their snake chase.

"Guys! C'mon! Enough with your bromance, we need your help."

Sean looked over. Raking a hand through his hair, he said, "Yeah? What's up? We've already checked the bins; they're not overflowing."

"The machine is broken! We need you to fix it. Hurry, please."

"Oh yeah, we saw that," Caleb said. He didn't bother to look up at her and instead pulled out a chocolate bar from his pocket and began to munch on it. "Just chillax."

Claudia was sure her eyes were bulging out of her head at this stage. Turning to Sean for help, she almost smacked her forehead with her palm when he said, "Yeah, too bad. Ah well, it might mean we get holidays earlier. I've been missing the beach."

"Sean!"

"What?"

Stamping her foot, Claudia looked over at Simone. In all the panic, the girl still looked flawless. Her hair wasn't falling out of its clasp like Claudia's was, nor was her make up cakey from sweating. She was perfect, and as much as it made her stomach churn or her heart ache, Claudia knew what to do.

"Simone, maybe you could ask Sean," she said, walking over to the girl.

Simone placed her hands on her hips. "I'm doing all that I can!"

"No, no, I mean, if you ask Sean, he might be more inclined to help."

Simone glanced at Sean before looking back at Claudia. She seemed to appraise her for a minute, and Claudia could have sworn she understood what she was going through. Without a word, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and walked over to the boys.

Claudia jogged up the platform stairs, unable to watch. She had seen Simone trail a finger up Sean's arm, her giggles echoing around the shed.

When she heard them coming up the stairs themselves, Sean saying, "I'll take a look at it," she moved to the side.

Sean bent down in front of the operating box. He winked at Simone, before opening the door. That was as far as he got, however, for he soon jumped back.

"Ouch!"

"What?" Claudia and Simone said together.

"It's hot," he said, sucking on one of his fingers. "Nuh, can't do it, mate."

"C'mon!"

"Nuh, sorry. Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much. It's not like the boss is going to back to see. He might have to fill in some sort of form because of Jared's bite. If he gets sued, well, he wouldn't be able to afford to run the machine anyway."

At this, Josie threw her head back and wailed. Claudia couldn't be bothered to tell her to shut up, especially when the shed phone started ringing.

Simone's hands shook as she picked up the portable phone and answered it. "Hello?"

Claudia tried to listen in, but whoever was on the line must have been whispering. Judging from Simone's expression, which changed from a relieved smile to a look of horror, she guessed it wasn't good news.

"Aha, alright, we'll soon you then. Bye."

Claudia waited for her to hang up before asking, "Well? What's happening?"

The girl swallowed. "Jared is alright, they got him to the hospital just in time."

Letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding, Claudia smiled. Jared might have been annoying and it was his own fault for getting bitten, but she hadn't wanted him to die. At least she didn't think so.

"That's good then, isn't it?" she said.

Simone shook her head. "Emily is staying, but my uncle and Chester are coming bac. They just need to fill in a few forms, but should be here within an hour or two."

"Crap."

Claudia looked around, not sure what to do. Her heart was beating frantically, the pace increasing as she saw how many cherries were still left to be sorted. An entire pallet of buckets was near the bath, as were the cherries still on the belt. If the machine was working, they would probably manage to finish them within the hour. By hand, it was a different story.

Simone clapped her hands together to gain everyone's attention. Lee and Tiffany finally looked up, their seconds buckets full.

"Listen up! Alright, the machine is down and unless you can all pull out your fingers, we'll be fired. Leah, stop eating the cherries and help Trevor wash the ones on the pallet. Josie, blow your nose and go help her. Tiffany, Lee, you both come here and—" Simone began.

Lee cleared his throat, walking over to the operating box. "Help?" he said, pointing to it.

Claudia rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, we need help—go start sorting out the rest of the cherries on the belt."

Lee looked at his feet, his face crestfallen, but followed suit. Tiffany resumed sorting out the cherries in front of her, laughing as she pushed them down the packing shoot as though it was a game. After grabbing a handful of cherries and shoving them in her mouth, Leah pulled Josie with her down the stairs.

Snapping on her gloves, Claudia sat on her own stool and rifled through the cherries.

Every now and then, Leah or Josie would bring up a fresh batch of cherries from the bath and spread them across the belt. Josie had ceased crying, save for when she found a heart-shaped cherry and started sniffling.

Arms aching, back muscles spasming, hands freezing, Claudia was about ready to give up. After half an hour, they had sorted hundreds of cherries. They were nowhere near finished, though, and a glance at the clock sent her heart into a frenzy again.

"We're not going to make it," she said.

Through gritted teeth, Simone said, "Of course we are. It's doable." She turned her head to look at the clock and suddenly, her pace increased.

Lee stood up, stretching his arms above his head. Pushing in his stool, he walked towards the staircase.

"No toilet breaks!" Claudia and Simone both shouted.

Lee ignored them, bi-passing the stairs and heading towards the operating box. Opening the little door hatch, he started to tinker with the insides.

"Lee, what are you—"

"Help."

"But—"

"Shhh. Help," he said.

Claudia looked to Simone, who shook her head. The girl continued sorting cherries, perhaps having given up. A few strange noises were coming from the machine, yet another glance at the clock had her continuing sorting herself. After all, the machine couldn't get any more broken.

The team sorted for another ten minutes before Lee stood up. Closing the hatch door, he walked over to the other end of the conveyor belt.

"Ah well, Lee, nice try—"

"Press button," he said.

"Huh?"

"Button. Machine start."

"He's saying start the machine," Tiffany said.

"Yes, thank you, I get it." Claudia rolled her eyes and pressed the button to start up the machine. She didn't hold her breath, and when the machine didn't start up, she shrugged again. "Oh well."

The machine, just like every person in the shed, chose that moment to be defiant. It made a funny noise, quite like a chainsaw starting up. Then, after a few more revs, it settled down, sounding more like a purring cat and its normal calm self.

Leah and Tiffany cheered in celebration, drowning out the annoyed grumbles of Sean and Caleb.

"You, you actually did it," Simone said.

Tiffany patted Lee on the shoulder, who had already gone back to sorting, a wide grin on his face. Claudia felt her cheeks grow hot, and after calling Leah and Josie to come back up onto the platform, worked to sort out the cherries.

They still had to work hard to get them done on time, but when five thirty rolled around, they had just about finished. They could hear a car pulling up in the driveway outside, and soon enough, Chester and Barry came inside.

"How'd everything go?" Barry asked, taking off his sunglasses and looking at the packed boxes.

Claudia and Simone shared a smile—the first in the day they had known each other—before Simone answered, "Pretty good."

Barry sniffed the air, almost as though he could still smell the smoke from the machine. It had dissipated since before Lee fixed it.

Nevertheless, to be safe, Claudia asked, "How is Jared doing?"

"Mmm? Oh yes, very good. He'll be sore for a while, but no real damage done. I dare say he'll be out partying before he knows it," Barry said.

Chester, meanwhile, had been inspecting the seconds pallet. "My word, you have been doing a work. Who's in the lead?"

Claudia took a breath and peeked at Simone. The girl almost smiled—almost—and shrugged. "We've lost track between us," she said.

"Ah well, at least they didn't go through to packing. I suppose I'll just have to eat the Freddo Frog myself."

"The what?"

"The Freddo; whoever filled up the most was going to get a chocolate frog to eat. You could maybe break it in half between you if you really wanted." Chester dug around in his trouser pocket, pulling out a chocolate. He held it up to the platform for Claudia to take. "I hope you don't mind if it's a little melted though."

Claudia looked at Simone, whose mouth had popped open. The girl caught her gaze, and for the first time she had witness, Simone burst out laughing.

"It's alright, Chester, you have it," she said.

The old man looked at the chocolate and shrugged. "Well, if you're sure," he said, turning to walk off.

"Absolutely!"

Claudia turned back to Simone. The girl had stopped laughing, her expression once more schooled into the usual, 'I'm better than you,' look she usually wore.

They probably would never consider each other friends, yet with only one work day left, they seemed to understand each other. They would work together civilly, and perhaps if they both returned for the season next year, things would be a lot more pleasant. At the end of the day, they were both adults and now had a year to work on their issues.

Chester cleared his throat. Looking down, Claudia saw that he had paused, a finger on his chin as though he were in thought.

"You know," he said. "You two girls, Simone and, uh, Kordia? Claudia, sorry, Claudia. The apple season is about to start. I might just go sign you two up if you're open to it; there's a farm a few kilometres away who will be happy to have some experienced fruit workers."

He hobbled away before either girl could protest. Simone huffed and Claudia echoed her.

Apples would hurt more than cherries if thrown, and Claudia had a feeling they would be in for a long ride ahead.


End file.
